


Restraint [Sept. 26. 2018]

by patchfire, raving_liberal



Series: Story of Three Boys [106]
Category: Glee
Genre: Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-20
Updated: 2012-06-20
Packaged: 2017-11-08 04:24:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/439121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/patchfire/pseuds/patchfire, https://archiveofourown.org/users/raving_liberal/pseuds/raving_liberal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It only took 15 years for Zeke to find him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Restraint [Sept. 26. 2018]

“I’m surprised now that I didn’t recognize you right away.”

Noah closes his eyes and sighs at the sound of the voice behind him. He’d taken the most circuitous route to work, just in case Zeke was waiting, which apparently he had been. 

“Why are you here?”

“But the most recent pictures I could find of you were from your high school yearbook. A mohawk or a shaved head – that’s what I was looking for.”

“And instead you found me. Congratulations.” Noah walks through the door without holding it open for Zeke. “Queer, music-writing, working at Starbucks.”

He smirks to himself when he hears Zeke curse and struggle briefly with the door. “Hey, guys,” Noah greets the two kids who open on Wednesday mornings. “Any issues?”

“Nope!” Alyssa answers. “Everything’s going great. Closers left their inventory in the right place for once, even.”

Noah snorts back a laugh. “Noted.” He walks behind the counter and pulls on his apron, then starts to head towards the back when he notices Zeke is still trying to shadow him, paralleling Noah’s movements on the opposite side of the counter. “Was there something else?”

“I just thought it’d be nice if we could exchange contact information. Have a polite discussion. Maybe you could bring Annie so I could meet her.”

“Her name’s not even Annie, you moron,” Noah bites out. He stops himself before he can respond how Zeke no doubt wanted him to respond – with Hannah’s name. “I meant what I said on Monday. You need to either buy something or I’m calling NYPD and having them pick you up for loitering. I haven’t wanted or needed you around for fifteen years, and I sure as hell don’t need you talking to me at work, in front of my employees.”

“Do you really not use Puckerman anymore? Or was that a ruse, trying to get a rise out of me?”

Noah rolls his eyes. “You need to stop bothering me. Wait here a second.” Noah ducks into the back room and grabs a spare scrap of paper, writing down Syd’s information on it. “Here. If you have further questions, you can speak to my lawyer.” A one dollar retainer is still a retainer, and if they need help from Syd’s employer, they’ll have it, regardless. 

“Syd Beckett.” Zeke snorts. “Right.” Zeke orders a coffee, again with the refusal to say ‘venti’ and the comment about how coffee’s _meant_ to be drunk, black, and Noah retorts the same way, overemphasizing the venti and calling him out as the ‘heterosexual sperm donor,’ which makes Alyssa laugh. Thirty minutes later, Noah realizes Zeke’s _still_ sitting in the corner, so he walks outside on the pretext of taking a break and luckily sees Camden, one of the officers from the 20th that Noah recognizes, and he’s happy to walk into the shop and ask Zeke to leave. 

Noah pulls out his phone and sends Syd a message. Camden’s probably right; they’re going to need a restraining order. 

 

Syd walks into the Starbucks at 11:30 with two bags hanging off her shoulders and a harried look on her face. “Can you take your lunch now, Noah?”

Noah looks around the store and nods. “Yeah, shouldn’t be a problem. Alyssa, I’m going to lunch; when Jack gets back, you can take your break.”

“Okay,” Alyssa nods. “No problem!”

“Cafe Luxembourg?” Syd suggests as they walk onto the sidewalk. 

“If you’re paying, Ms. Freshly–Minted Lawyer,” Noah snorts. “Some of us don’t pay twenty dollars for our lunch.” 

“I’ll pay for the appetizer.”

“Artichokes and asparagus with Feta?” Noah asks hopefully, because he can’t really justify grilled vegetables and cheese for fifteen dollars very often. 

Syd grins. “You bet.”

Noah gets the grilled flank steak with the portobello fries, because if he’s going to go to Cafe Luxembourg, it’d be a shame not to get something good, even though he’s probably going to be eating food cart hot dogs for two weeks to make up for it. Everyone assumes that they’re doing fine, because they’ve done fine for six years, at least on the surface, but they have to keep their skills up without the benefit of college or grad school, and that ‘continuing education’ is eating up about half of their salaries. The steady monthly infusion of cash from Burt, a portion of the profits from selling the Nav, ran out at last, too. Nine months of the year, when they were in the midst of classes, they’d had a cushion, but after six years, that’s all gone. 

“So Zeke showed up again this morning.” Syd sets down her fork and looks thoughtful. “Twice in three days. Clearly he’s serious.”

“Yeah.” Noah sighs. “I really thought I’d never see the bastard again. I was fine with that.”

“And you’ve talked to Tina. You showed his picture around.” Syd nods. “And Finn?”

Noah raises his eyebrows and looks back at her steadily. “Why, exactly?”

Syd sighs. “I’m not getting in the middle of this, Noah.”

“You brought him up, not me.”

“Look, he’s the only person besides you who remembers Zeke,” Syd says. “Granted, both of you were, what, ten? When Zeke left.”

“Nine, actually.” Noah cuts his eyes out the window. “Hannah’s birthday is June first. Mine’s not until the end of the month.”

“And Finn’s is November. Right.” Syd shakes her head. “Okay, I’m not getting in the middle of this, Noah, but won’t you at least _think_ about it?”

“Did you ever think,” Noah snaps back, “that maybe I’m not the one that needs to extend the olive branch here?” He takes a long drink of water before continuing. “We’ve always, always told him that we wanted, needed him to be happy. That was the important thing. We weren’t going to be like everyone else in his life, trying to pressure him into doing what _we_ wanted him to do. But you know, every single fucking choice he’s made says that we’re not as important to him as he is to us, so. Fuck him. He made his choices. If he’s not happy with them, _it’s not my problem anymore_.”

“I know he said you two were upset about Pensacola, but…”

Noah snorts. “Right. That’s it. We’re just pissed over a vacation. I guess that’s a good story to tell himself. It couldn’t have anything to do with all the stupid shit we had to do for that farce of a wedding, or deciding we weren’t important, or I don’t know, maybe when he—” Noah cuts himself off. “Look, I appreciate what you’re trying to do for him, Syd, but the fact is, he’s been making decisions for years now that should have told us, and we were just too stupid to read the writing on the wall. And now we have, and excuse us for needing a few months of transition time.”

“Obviously there’s some things I’m missing here,” Syd says dryly. “Okay. No telling Finn _for now_. But if this gets messier, Noah.”

“Yeah, okay.” Noah sighs. “Listen, I gave Zeke your official contact information this morning. Told him to contact my lawyer instead of me, but it bothers me that he was waiting outside the store. Luckily he’s going to have a hard time finding our address, but.”

“Keep taking a roundabout route to work is all I can tell you,” Syd says with a sigh. “Restraining order’ll help, assuming it’s granted, which. I’d say about a seventy-five percent chance, given all the facts of the case. Try to take an even more roundabout route home. I know it’s irritating.”

“Less irritating than having him knocking on the front door of the building would be, though,” Noah admits. “Taking the trains to Columbus Circle to change lines is less of a bother than that.”

“Fair enough.” Syd shrugs and stands. “And now I’ve got to jump back on the 2 train. I’ll file for the restraining order tomorrow, okay?” 

Noah nods. “Okay. Thanks, Syd. We really do appreciate it.” 

“Not a problem. So how’s everything else?” Syd asks as they walk back toward Starbucks. 

“Same as it has been all summer.” Spinning their wheels, waiting. “Mike’s coming over tonight to commiserate with us.”

Syd smiles wryly. “Hang in there. It’ll happen.”

“And hey, if not, I can apply for full-on store manager next year,” Noah says mock–brightly. “Bye, Syd.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Syd snorts. “Bye.”

Noah waves and stands in front of the store as Syd walks down to the subway stop. Everything had seemed hard enough four or five days ago, and now Zeke is in town, and Noah’s not sure how much more he and Kurt can take.


End file.
